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Harold
137 169 205 |special = |affiliation =Treeminders |role =Informant Mayor of Gecko Unwilling deity of the Treeminders |location =Vault 29 (2077-2090) The Hub (2096-2102), (2161) Los (2208) Gecko (2238) Oasis (2277) |quests =Find the missing caravans Solve the Gecko powerplant problem Oasis Find Missing Pieces |actor =Charlie Adler Alan Oppenheimer Stephen Russell |tag skills = }} |derived =Hit Points: 30 , 80 XP: 60 , 250 Armor Class: 6 Action Points: 8 Carry Weight: 175 Melee Damage: 1 Sequence: 8 , 16 Healing Rate: 1 |proto = |baseid = |refid = |dialogue =HAROLD.MSG Harold's dialogue Gcharold.msg Harold.txt |footer = Harold in 2277 }} |content2= |content3= |content4= |content5= }} Harold is one of the most unique denizens of the wasteland. Born five years before the Great War, in 2072, Harold survived it in a vault and witnessed many of the pivotal events and met the most influential people of the wasteland. Rising to prominence as a caravan master in the formative years of the Hub, he would later meet the future Master, travel to Mariposa Military Base, undergo a change into a ghoul-like mutant through exposure to FEV, lose everything, then become a wasteland traveler, leading Gecko into a new future, and eventually becoming an unwilling god for the Treeminders in the Capital Wasteland, on the opposite end of the continent.Sources within the article. While he appears to be a ghoul and is treated as such by everyone he meets (save for the few exceptional individuals who look beyond his horrifying appearance), Harold is technically not a ghoul, but a special kind of mutant created through his limited exposure to FEV. Due to his birth before the War and subsequent growing up in a Vault, shielded from the high amounts of radiation that flooded the world, he was largely untainted and qualified for full transformation into a super mutant, given the right levels of exposure. However, the relatively low amounts of exposure coupled with a number of random, uncontrolled factors, resulted in his transformation into an unique, special kind of mutant. Harold is Harold, just like Talius is Talius. Although hesitant to self-identify as a ghoul at first, Harold eventually embraced his identity and worked to aid his brethren.Fallout Bible 5: Background Early life Born in 2072 , Harold was only five years old when the War started and he entered Vault 29. He still remembers the sirens on that day and the terrible days that followed, living in an overcrowded Vault with not enough food and water to go around.The Vault Dweller: "{1005}{}{Vault}" Harold: "{1105}{hrold305}{Yeah, I came from a Vault. Too many people, not enough food and water. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?}" (HAROLD.MSG) The reason was that his shelter, Vault 29, was populated with young children separated from their parents, and placed under the care of Diana, a human scientist immortalized by merging her human brain with a supercomputer controlling the Vault and the Nursery, a repository of seeds and genetic records preserved in case of a global thermonuclear war. Diana would control the unrest by periodically releasing young dwellers to scout the surface and report whether it was safe to settle. They never returned, as Diana would take them to the Nursery, where they'd either be able to join her or leave, after being conditioned to be unable to speak of the Nursery or the Vault.Nursery design document Harold was selected by Diana and initially agreed to stay, before escaping. He kept the Nursery a secret, believing it his duty to protect it from those who would exploit it.Information acquired from one of the developers by Paweł "Ausir" Dembowski: ”Yes, we actually remembered about him coming from Vault 29 originally. The story was that he was taken by a robot to the Nursery. There he was given the choice of staying with Diana, or exploring the outside world. However, if he chose to explore, she would have to 'condition' him, so that he could not reveal anything about her, or the nursery to the world. He agreed to stay, but escaped eventually. Afterwards, he kept the nursery a secret because he felt it was his duty to the world to keep such a future gift intact until the world was ready for it. His later return to the nursery was a moment of joy for Diana and a 'new experience' to him, as much of his early memories faded with age.” He left in 2090, at eighteen, and began to make his fortune as a trader, making the circuit between survivalist communities that emerged throughout New California.Harold: "{101}{HROLD0}{Spare change, old friend, old pal? Can you help a poor mutant down on his luck? Cough}" The Vault Dweller: "{102}{}{Yeah, here's $25. Good luck to you.}" Harold: "{108}{HROLD2}{Oh, kind of ya, friend. Very kind. You know, if I could clear the gunk out of there, you, just might find a tear in Old Harold's eye.}" The Vault Dweller: "{109}{}{Why is that?}" Harold: "{111}{HROLD3}{Cough Rest of the Hubbers' been picking on me like a bad booger since I came back to town. I can't leave, though. When the deals are done wheez it's still my home.}" The Vault Dweller: "{112}{}{What happened to you?}" Harold: "{115}{HROLD4}{Well, after the Great War, my Vault was one of the first to open. a deep breath Whew. Long time.}" The Vault Dweller: "{116}{}{Tell me more about those days.}" Harold: "{118}{HROLD5}{All started with the sirens. I was young, but ohh, I do remember that. Lotta terrible years followed. And I remember walking outta the Vault late one morning.}" The Vault Dweller: "{120}{}{Where was your Vault located?}" Harold: "{122}{HROLD6}{You know, cough I'm not real sure anymore. West, I think. Uh wait - east? Ooh I don't know. cough}" (HAROLD.MSG)Fallout Bible 0: "2090 Vault 29 opens. Harold (now human) sets out to make his fortune as a trader, making the circuit around the survivalist communities in the wasteland."Fallout Bible 5: "2090 Vault 29 opens. Harold (currently human) sets out to make his fortune as a trader, making the circuit around the survivalist communities in the wasteland." Over the next twelve years, he made a tidy profit, rising to prominence in the Hub. However, all things come at a cost and Harold's success ran up a hefty bill due to attacks by gangers, scavengers and mutant creatures that made it necessary to employ entire armies of guards just to keep them at bay.The Vault Dweller: "{119}{}{What did you do then?}" Harold: "{124}{HROLD7}{Well, I was a trader. Did pretty good making a circuit between survivors. Lost a lotta good people, though. Coughs}" The Vault Dweller: "{125}{}{How?}" Harold: "{126}{HROLD8}{Gangers got'em. Scavengers attacking the caravans. And mutants, son of a dog, if they weren't springing up like rabbits with a mission. cough Had to have an army of guards with, just to do a deal.}" (HAROLD.MSG) This was all the more apparent to him since he became the head of his own caravan outfit in 2096.Fallout Bible 0: "2096 Harold rises to the level of a caravan boss in the Hub. His caravans suffer occasional attacks in the wastes, but Harold's caravan outfit survives and prospers... until the mutant attacks begin to pick up a few years later." Eventually, he had enough and on May 22, 2102, financed one of the first adventuring parties in New California together with Richard Grey, a mysterious scientist and doctor from the Hub.Fallout Bible 0: "2102 May 22 Increasing mutant attacks on Harold's caravans cause Harold to get so pissed he finances one of the first adventuring parties of Fallout to try and find out where these dagnab mutants are coming from. Consulting with a scientist and doctor at the Hub, a man by the name of Grey, the two of them decide to join forces." the expedition set out from the Hub and tracked the mutants to the northwest, deep into the Californian Central Valley. After fighting through what seemed like an endless stream of mutants, they finally reached Mariposa Military Base on June 23.Fallout Bible 0: "2102 June 23 Richard Grey's Expedition Harold finds the Mariposa Military Base and the Expedition is scattered and defeated by mutants at the base. Grey is knocked into one of the vats of FEV by a robotic arm, and Harold is knocked unconscious, only to awaken later out in the wasteland." Penetrating the base's defenses proved no small feat and eventually, the entire group was whittled down to just Harold and Richard Grey. Francine was wounded and Mark was sent to the surface, never to be heard from again. The two of them penetrated all the way into the base's central core, where the vats of FEV were located. The expedition was finally routed when the robotic crane crashed into them, sending Grey into a vat of FEV and badly injuring Harold. He passed out, only to wake up in the wasteland days later, in the throes of change due to exposure to FEV, when he handled a contaminated item in the base.The Vault Dweller: "{128}{}{Where were the mutants coming from?}" Harold: "{133}{HROLD10}{Everywhere! Hell, seemed like you couldn't fart without hitting one. But mostly in the northwest.}" The Vault Dweller: "{134}{}{Did you explore that area?}" Harold: "{138}{HROLD11}{We mounted an expedition. God, Richard. Richard Grey. Led a small group of us up there.}" The Vault Dweller: "{139}{}{Richard Grey?}" Harold: "{146}{HROLD14}{Richard Grey was a doctor. Little older than me, and friend was he smart. He found the source.}" The Vault Dweller: "{147}{}{And what was that?}" Harold: "{160}{HROLD18}{Some sort of old military base. We lost a lotta folks getting in there.}" The Vault Dweller: "{161}{}{How did you know this base was the cause?}" Harold: "{165}{HROLD20}{Because it was like someone went bargain shopping at mutantland! Geez! Cheaper by the dozens! Can't figure any other reason except that being the factory.}" The Vault Dweller: "{166}{}{Did you examine the base closely?}" Harold: "{167}{HROLD21}{We got pretty far inside. Wasn't a lot of us left by then. Grey, me and couple of others.}" The Vault Dweller: "{168}{}{And then?}" Harold: "{169}{HROLD22}{One of them robots got Francine. Mark was wounded, sent him back to the surface. Then it was just me and Grey.}" The Vault Dweller: "{170}{}{What ever happened to Mark?}" Harold: "{172}{HROLD23}{To this day, I don't know. He never made it back here, and...well I...couldn't face the wasteland again, so I...I never looked.}" The Vault Dweller: "{173}{}{What about you and Grey?}" "Harold: {174}{HROLD24}{We made it to some sort of central core, like a plant of some sort. That's when it happened.}" The Vault Dweller: "{175}{}{What?}" Harold: "{176}{HROLD25}{A robot crane crashed into us. Last I saw of Grey, he was flying through the air in-into some sort of acid bath. I was in bad shape and...well I passed out.}" The Vault Dweller: "{177}{}{How did you survive?}" Harold: "{181}{HROLD26}{Well, I have no idea. Woke up in the wasteland, barely hanging on. Got lucky and some traders I knew found me days later. Good thing, since I was already changing. They brought me here, and here I've been since.}" The Vault Dweller: "{182}{}{How did you mutate?}" Harold: "{190}{HROLD28}{All's I know, is it was something inside that base.}" The Vault Dweller: "{191}{}{Do you think it could have been radiation?}" Harold: "{193}{HROLD29}{How the hell should I know? Grey would've known if anybody could. sigh Anyway, that's how the deal went down.}" (HAROLD.MSG)The Lone Wanderer: "How did a tree end up growing out of your head?" Harold: "It was a long time ago... I tend to lose track. I was exploring some sort of a military base with some other people... I think it was called Mariposa. We were pretty deep inside and we found some weird vats of this nasty green goo. Right when we were about to leave, I think we were attacked. Last thing I remember before blacking out was something knocking my friend into the stuff." (Harold's dialogue) He was found by traders four days later, on June 27, and taken back to the Hub. His horrifying transformation caused him to lose his business, as employees and partners turned away from him. Soon, he was left a beggar, living in a derelict ruin in the Old Town.Fallout Bible 0: "2102 June 27 Harold, already mutating, is found by traders and taken back to the Hub. His former caravan partners and employees, horrified by his condition, abandon him and he is soon left without even two bottlecaps to rub together." No country for old mutants His resolve and hardiness allowed him to survive despite the poverty. By the time he met the Vault Dweller around 2161, he was the oldest person alive in the whole wide Hub, known for his stories and knowledge, not just about days long past, but also contemporary events. For example, he knew how to find the deathclaw suspected of attacking caravans and was aware of the fact that Decker's men captured Brother Jonathan of the Brotherhood of Steel recently, and would happily share that knowledge for a modest amount of bottle caps to keep himself afloat.Fallout Official Survival Guide p.97: "'Harold: An Old, Old Mutant Harold is the oldest person alive in the Hub. In fact, he was five years old when the war started. After his vault opened and its inhabitants made their way out into the wasteland, he became a merchant. At some point many years ago, he handled an artifact contaminated with the FEV virus that caused him to mutate . He is now very old, sick, and he tends to ramble on a lot. Some of his information may be out of date. He can be cranky at times, but he likes to tell stories. He could be a good source of information on people and things within the Hub, and it's worthwhile talking to him to find out what he knows." "'''Hints'"'' "Be patient with Harold and draw him out. He has one critical piece of information that may be of use: He knew the Master when the Master was still human, and he has been to the lost military base." Harold left sometime after 2162, having managed to bring a measure of equality between the impoverished population of Hub's Old Town and the rest of the city. He traveled north, accompanied by a sapling (Bob) that took root in his head. By 2238, he arrived in Gecko and noticing that the careless way the power plant was managed, he decided to stick around and do his best to help the ghouls with the running of the facility, becoming the de facto mayor and leader of the local community.Fallout Bible 0: "2238 Harold arrives in Gecko, and (with a lot of shaking of his head) he does his best to help the ghouls with the running of the Nuclear Power Plant." He would be one of the key players in the struggle between the ghouls and the bigoted inhabitants of Vault City to solve the Gecko powerplant problem. After the conflict was resolved,There is no reference as to how the situation was resolved. he started to travel again. The tree growing out of his head continued to grow larger and bear fruit. Its remarkably tough seeds are able to withstand even the toughest environments and thrive.Fallout Bible 0: "5. Why in the final scene in Fallout 1 and 2 nothing is said about players friendly NPCs ? I'd love to know what happened to Marcus, Tycho, Ian, Cassidy or Vic afterwards. - Kreegle" "Fallout 1: I don't know why. Tim and the Troika crew apparently ended up doing this for the NPCs in ''Arcanum, though."'' ..."In any event, here you go - note that some are personalized for the actor, others are not:"... "Harold" ... Traveler of the Wasteland ]] After the destruction of the Master's Army, Harold left the Hub and became a traveler who visited various places around the wasteland. It's known that he traveled in Texas to Carbon where he had a sexual encounter with Carbon's prostitute, Ruby, and the ghoul-city of Los around 2208. He wanted to have a good time in Los after leaving Carbon but the arrival of super mutants and the loss of his hand, his toe and his eye in the city changed the deal. The Initiate helped Harold to recover his parts so he could leave the city before its destruction. Harold's travels ended in Gecko in 2238.Fallout Bible Quests * Find Missing Pieces - Harold has lost three pieces of his body and asks the player character to retrieve them. * Harold's romp with Ruby - the Initiate can remind Harold of his adventures with Ruby, the prostitute from Carbon, for 300 XP. Leader of Gecko In 2241, Harold is a very old but still spry-looking ghoul.Gcharold.msg, line 102 The Chosen One runs into Harold in Gecko, the ghoul town not far from Vault City. After the destruction of the Necropolis following ''Fallout, most of the ghoul population of the town migrated far to the north to form a settlement around an old nuclear power plant built by Poseidon Oil before the Great War. Anyone else would likely be killed by long term exposure to radiation, but the ghouls just find it pleasant. When Harold arrived, the plant was being run dangerously and stupidly. Harold quickly took over from the well-meaning but inept leaders of Gecko and got the reactor into some kind of working order. When the Chosen One arrives in Gecko, Harold asks them to help solve the Gecko powerplant problem. The Chosen One still heard mention of Harold from time to time. Apparently, the tree growing from his head has gotten larger, and, if rumors are to be believed, fruit is growing from it. The seeds are said to be remarkably tough, and several of them have taken root even in the most barren stretches of the wasteland. Back home By the 2250s, Harold was ill. The tree in his head developed an unknown disease and was dying. Much to his surprise, Harold found himself affected as well. He didn't think he was going to die, but he just didn't feel right in the head. So, he set out on a quest for a cure. Naturally, he didn't have an easy time of it either. People just didn't seem to want a mutant around any more, but Harold didn't let that stop him. He persisted in his quest until he came upon the Twin Mothers tribe, which originated from his home, Vault 29. Much to his surprise, the tribe took him in and accepted him as he was. He explained his quest to the tribal leaders and was told that they would consult their goddess. Days later, Harold was approached by the tribal shaman and given a potion to drink. It was a foul concoction, but it worked. Bob, the tree, got better and was happy again. Harold couldn't let such a good deed go unrewarded, so he offered to help the tribe in any way that he could. They smiled at him, and thanked him, but declined his help. "The goddess will provide," they always said. Harold said that he would like to pay his respects to the goddess, and was taken to the tribal shrine to be granted a private audience. He wasn't really surprised when the projected image of a woman appeared before him, but he was taken aback when she told him where he could find her. His return to the Nursery was a moment of joy for Diana and a "new experience" to him, as much of his early memories faded with age. Harold traveled to the Nursery and spent considerable time there. He even considered settling down and spending the remainder of his day in the tranquility of the gardens. However, eventually he left and traveled even further east. If the Prisoner gives Diana the information on the FEV and the New Plague from the Boulder ZAX, Diana will be able to create a cure to the New Plague virus in the form of a small fruit, by genetically engineering it from Harold's tree. Ascension Harold's tireless legs eventually carried him all the way to the opposite end of the continent, to the Capital Wasteland. Overwhelmed by Bob, he stopped to rest, only to realize that he was unable to move anymore, rooted to the ground by his companion. He became part of the tree, sustained by its photosynthesis and nutrients taken from the ground. He took root in the northern Capital Wasteland and was found by a wanderer in the late 2250s.The Lone Wanderer: "You don't actually seem that sad. Why do you want to die?" Harold: "I've been literally rooted to this spot thanks to Bob for maybe twenty or thirty years... I can't even remember anymore. Can you imagine being stuck in one place for that long not being able to eat or to read or to sleep or anything? In the meantime, I have these Treeminders bothering me every day about things I don't even care about. I can't stand it anymore." (Harold's dialogue)The Lone Wanderer: "Why do you call yourselves Treeminders?" Birch: "We care for this place and keep it safe from those who would seek to exploit it. He gives to us, so we give back to Him. It's an arrangement that's worked well for almost two decades. We shun technology and embrace nature. That's the life of a Treeminder." (Birch's dialogue) This wanderer, later taking the name Birch, beheld the glory of Harold and knew other wanderers would seek to do the Great One harm. He founded the Treeminders, a group of pure-hearted individuals that would protect the Great One as his last line of defense.The Lone Wanderer: "How did the Treeminders begin?" Birch: "When I first beheld the glory of the Great One, I knew there'd be others who would seek to do Him harm. I also knew He would be calling others that he felt were pure of heart to protect Him. Right then and there I created the Treeminders... the Great One's last line of defense." (Birch's dialogue) Once Harold and Bob truly became a part of the environment, a verdant vale of growth spread from the tree, washing the barren hillside over with life and greenery,Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.319-320: "'''2.01: OASIS (LAT -03/LONG 28)' ''OASIS Oasis is a fertile, verdant dot in the center of all the desolation. This odd hidden vale is home to a strange, tribal-like people who call themselves the Treeminders. You are welcomed into Oasis with open arms, and their leader, Tree Father Birch, invites you to meet their god. Oasis is tucked away inside a giant rocky outcrop in the mountains just northeast of the monorail and freeway skeletons, and the entrance is close to a rope bridge." (Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition Tour of the Capital Wasteland)The Lone Wanderer: "How is it you're causing all of these things to grow around you?" Harold: "It's kind of embarrassing really. Once a year, Bob decides he's going to go ahead and start growing these weird pods filled with tiny seeds. Well, all it takes is a good wind and the seeds just fly everywhere. I call them Herbert's Seeds. He hates that!" (Harold's dialogue) and enticing animal life to inhabit the area.The Lone Wanderer: "Amazing, this place seems so abundant with animal life." Birch: "The innocent creatures are drawn here by His gifts. They come from across the Wasteland to live in this sanctuary. This part of the world is healing, my friend, and it's all thanks to Him." (Birch's dialogue)There are sounds of birds, crickets, and squirrels? as backround sounds in Oasis. With the Treeminders' care and attention, Bob started to take root further; over time, his root system carried away Harold's internal organs far throughout the cave system below, making it plain that short of a merciful death, Harold would remain forever in one spot.The Lone Wanderer: "Hey, maybe if you tell me what Harold is scared of I won't be scared either." The Lone Wanderer: "Tell me, too! Then I won't be scared either." Yew: "Awww, I never knew an Outsider could be scared of anything! Harold told me that he's scared of fire. If fire ever got on him, it would burn him and Bob until they were all gone. That's why we keep the fires far away from him." (Yew's dialogue)The Lone Wanderer: "How would I be able to kill you? You're a tree." Harold: "How to put this? ...I've been feeling rather "spread out" lately. I think Bob's kinda shoved my insides around some. It's hard to tell where everything is, but it's always that way with one's insides, isn't it? Anyway, I believe Bob's carried some of my organs into his root system. I want you to go underground and destroy my heart." (Harold's dialogue) Harold used his ability to spread Herbert's seeds to attract wanderers, at first to amuse himself, and then to find a solution to the problem he was in. The key issue was that the purification ceremony necessary for outsiders to gain access to Harold involved drinking hallucinogenic sap derived from Bob, resulting in psychosis and other severe mental problems in most who came to the Oasis.The Lone Wanderer: "How do the Treeminders normally handle other Outsiders?" Harold: "Oh, you wouldn't believe how they handle them. They make them drink this gunk that Poplar makes. Sometimes they just go nuts and start running around, and sometimes when they wake up and see me they run for the hills! I'll tell you, Outsiders are almost as entertaining as the Treeminders!" (Harold's dialogue) He kept trying, hoping to attract someone capable of helping him through his ordeal. Finally, in 2277, he managed to attract the Lone Wanderer. Upon their acceptance into the cult, Harold requested that they kill him, to spare him the agony of being rooted in one spot for all eternity.The Lone Wanderer: "Well, hopefully your troubles will be over. I'm here to help." Harold: "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. Or, we're glad to hear that... me and Bob. I had you brought in here to ask a very simple favor. Would you please kill me?" The Lone Wanderer: "You want me to murder you?" Harold: "Oh no, no, no. It wouldn't be murder. You'd be doing me a favor. You see, I've been stuck here for over two decades now... rooted right into the ground. The only friends I've got are Bob and those weirdos out there who think I'm a god." The Lone Wanderer: "You don't actually seem that sad. Why do you want to die?" Harold: "I've been literally rooted to this spot thanks to Bob for maybe twenty or thirty years... I can't even remember anymore. Can you imagine being stuck in one place for that long not being able to eat or to read or to sleep or anything? In the meantime, I have these Treeminders bothering me every day about things I don't even care about. I can't stand it anymore." (Harold's dialogue) Suffering from depression, he pleaded with the Lone Wanderer to end his life, something the Treeminders could not do.The Lone Wanderer: "Hey, life is a gift. Even if it lasts a long time, be glad you have it!" Harold: "I've tried to stay happy, really I have. Bloomseer Poplar thinks I'll live for hundreds of years... maybe even more! Can you imagine THAT? Stuck here for centuries? I can't do it, I just want to be alone. Just me and Bob until the end. When I saw you coming towards Oasis, I thought I felt that you'd understand me. I guess I was wrong." (Harold's dialogue)The Lone Wanderer: "If people thought I was a god, I'd exploit it for all it's worth!" Harold: "Hey, I thought that too... at first. I had them sing me songs, I made them do stupid dances and things like that. Bob even told me to make Maple stand on his head for a whole day! After a while though, it just gets boring. Then it becomes a nuisance and now it's completely driving me nuts! When I saw you coming towards Oasis, I thought I felt that you'd understand me. I guess I was wrong." (Harold's dialogue) His requests for them to end his life wound up interpreted as tests of their moral and spiritual aptitude, rather than genuine pleas for mercy.The Lone Wanderer: "Had you ever asked one of them to kill you before?" Harold: "They wouldn't listen to me at all! If I told them something simple, then it got done. Otherwise, Birch spent a week looking for a hidden meaning. Plus, he used to just pop in whenever he wanted and started chanting this nonsense. Sometimes I used to just sit there silently just to make him mad! That was fun for a while. Hopefully this will all change now that things are different... thanks to you!" (Harold's dialogue)Harold: "I can't believe you'd kill those innocent people like that. And I thought I was a monster! If I could move, I would show you a thing or two, but Bob has me stuck here." Harold: "Those people you killed were some of the most peaceful people in the Wasteland! How could you do that to them?" Harold: "How dare you come into Oasis and shoot up the place! Even Bob is mad at you, and he never gets mad except when I don't stop calling him Herbert!" (Harold's dialogue) His sole real companion was Yew, the youngest of the group, who listened to him without reservation.The Lone Wanderer: "Which Treeminder do you get along with the best?" Harold: "Actually, the kid is the nicest one of all. Yew's her name. She sneaks in here sometimes and just lets me talk about stuff I wanna talk about. Bob really likes her too, cause she makes me happy." (Harold's dialogue) Others, treating him as a god, always looked for hidden meanings or had their own designs for him. Tree Father Birch and Leaf Mother Laurel held two opposing views of what should happen: Birch wished to contain Bob's spread to protect Oasis and Harold, while Laurel desired to share their god's gift with everyone. It was up to the Lone Wanderer to decide whether to fulfill Harold's wish and euthanize him or persuade him to live on and either have Bob spread out or be contained.The Lone Wanderer: "You've become an important part of their life. Without you, they're lost." Harold: "So, they really need me that badly, huh? I guess I never thought of it that way. Awfully selfish of me. Should we give them another chance, Herbert? Fine, fine. I mean Bob. I still think it's funny when I call him Herbert." (Harold's dialogue) Nature of Harold To the untrained eye, Harold appears to be an ordinary ghoul. This is not so, however. Ghouls are the result of massive and/or long-term radiation damage to a human body; Harold is a product of the Forced Evolutionary Virus. Unlike most people who are exposed to FEV, Harold did not become a super mutant, but is the result of a unique combination of radiation damage from constant low-level environmental exposure, indirect exposure to FEV (it is unclear how Harold was infected with FEV as he blacked out for a while during his exploration of Mariposa) and a fair amount of random chance. Thus he's not a ghoul, and certainly not a super mutant, though it could be argued that he is somehow a hybrid of the two. To quote Tim Cain, "Harold is special." Furthermore, Tim Cain has this to say on the subject: "As for contact FEV, any contact at all will infect the subject, but the amount of contact determines the result. For example, I imagine Harold had some contact with the virus, but he was not fully immersed in it, so he became a different mutant than the Master's subjects. Full immersion, of course, is the preferred method of infection, as it provides the virus a large surface area for infection." Another similar FEV-created, ghoul-like mutant is Talius. Harold behaves unusually in treating Bob as if the plant were actually sentient. Although at no point does the plant indicate that it can convey feelings, Harold certainly is not stupid, and perhaps only crazy in the humorous sense, yet he still insists on hearing out the plant's opinions on certain matters that he might otherwise take seriously. Given Harold's newfound ability to "see" through the trees that are descended from Bob through the use of extreme concentration, it may not be much of a stretch to suggest that both are deeply linked in some unknown way, almost certainly as a result of FEV exposure. Because of his mutation, it is no surprise that Harold is afraid of fire. Despite his appearance, Harold is a kind-hearted soul with a comical personality. He has made many friends throughout his travels, potentially including the Vault Dweller, the Chosen One and the Lone Wanderer. He is also good with kids, as evidenced by his friendship with Sapling Yew in Oasis, of whom he is particularly fond. Interactions with the player character ''Fallout'' Quests * Find the missing caravans: Beth tells the Vault Dweller to go to Harold to obtain more information on the missing caravans. Tell me about ''Fallout 2'' Quests * Solve the Gecko powerplant problem: Harold is concerned that if the pollution does not cease, Vault City will assault Gecko and kill all of the ghouls. ''Fallout 3'' Quests * Oasis: Birch wants to stop Harold's influence on the wasteland, Laurel wants to spread his influence and Harold just wants to die. ''Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel'' Quests * Find Missing Pieces: Harold is having trouble keeping parts of his body on, so he sends the Initiate to look for his missing body parts. ''Fallout: New California'' Harold can be acquired at the shop by any player character that has Endurance. When shopping with him as the active companion, the player character can exhaust him in order to gain an additional two bottle caps for every item they sell. When the player character performs the camp action, he will become unexhausted. However, if the player character does not have Charisma at this time, he must be discarded. Notable quotes ''Fallout'' FO01 NPC Harold N.png| "Well, after the Great War, my Vault was one of the first to open. a deep breath Whew. Long time." FO01 NPC Harold G.png| "Oh, kind of ya, friend. Very kind. You know, if I could clear the gunk out of there, you, just might find a tear in Old Harold's eye." FO01 NPC Harold B.png| "Nevermind, that was from my time. I'm cranky, old and I've been that way ever since I changed." Avatar-Harold.jpg|Harold's headshot ''Fallout 2'' FO02 NPC Harold N.png| "I gotta tell ya, ol' Harold's a bit slow on the draw hisself. The two of us talkin' wouldn't get a whole lot done." FO02 NPC Harold G.png| "Mighty kind a'ya. Not many smoothskins would do that for a town full of ghouls. Kinda reminds me of a smoothie I knew, way back when." FO02 NPC Harold B.png| "I'd rather look like this than look like you and have to be you. You are a bonehead. Get the hell outta here." * ''Fallout 3'' * * * ''Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel'' * ''The Armageddon Rag'' * "Be kind to the Smoothskins. One saved the world once. 'Course, they broke it to start with." Notes In Fallout, Harold's "Tell-Me-About" on vaults leads to his explaining that the vault he originated from failed, due to an overabundance of vault dwellers, and a lack of food to sustain their numbers. This actually corresponds to the description of Vault 27 in Fallout Bible. This vault was to be deliberately overcrowded by twice the sustainable amount, as opposed to Vault 29 as it's described in Van Buren, not canon either. This means the official fate of Harold's home is the one he tells. When asked about "Master," Harold related it to "some sort of sex therapist," a reference to an American gynecologist in real-life, William H. Masters. Appearances * Harold appears in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and the Fallout: The Board Game add-on Fallout: New California. A mutant named "Harold" with a tree growing out of his head appears in Fallout Tactics, although it is unclear whether this is actually the Harold. * Additionally, Harold was to appear in both Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios and Interplay's Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2. A cult called the Church of Harold was set to appear in Project V13. * A group called "Harold's Cult" is mentioned in a piece of concept art by Adam Adamowicz, which was released after Adamowicz' death. It portrays three characters in clothing similar to that of the Treeminders. Gallery FO3_Harold_endslide 1.jpg|Burning Harold in Fallout 3 FO3_Harold_endslide 2.jpg Harolds_heart.jpg|Harold's heart in the Sunken Chambers Harold corpse.jpg|Harold, burnt HaroldTAR.PNG|A picture of Harold from the Church of Harold brochure FBGNC Harold.jpg|Harold as he appears in Fallout: New California Category:Fallout talking heads Category:Fallout 2 talking heads Category:Fallout 3 characters Category:Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel characters Category:Fallout: New California companions Category:Van Buren characters Category:Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2 characters Category:Fallout Bible characters Category:Carbon characters Category:Gecko characters Category:Hub characters Category:Los characters Category:Nursery characters Category:Oasis characters de:Harold es:Harold fi:Harold fr:Harold hu:Harold it:Harold ja:Harold nl:Harold pl:Harold pt:Harold ru:Гарольд (мутант) sv:Harold uk:Гарольд zh:哈罗德